Edge piling machine



Feb. 19, 1952 2,586,172

F. H. MURPHY EDGE FILING MACHINE Filed May 10, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET l FIG.I

INVENTOR ATTORNEY FRANCIS H. MURPHY Feb. 19, 1952 H, M RPHY 2,586,172

EDGE PILING MACHINE Filed May 10, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 w INVENTORFRANCIS H. MVURPHY ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 19, 1952 UNITED STATES PATIENTOFFICE Francis H. Murphy, Webster Groves, Mo.,, :assigner to SwitzerCompanies, a partnership Application May 10, 1948, Serial No."26,064

( Cl. 22l'47:)

1-Claim. 1

This invention relates to a wrapped article handling attachment for awrapping machine such as is shown and described "in U. S. Patent No.2,283,097, for Wrapping Machine, issued May "1 942, to Oscar Sandb'erg.As presently constructedand used, the aforementioned wrapping machinedelivers the articles wrapped thereby, such as candy bars, ontoa'bltconveyorinan upright position. From this conveyor the articles aretaken by an operator who counts and packages them for shipment. its usedsome industries, for example in the 'wrapping of'lic'oriee sticks, it isrequired that the preceding it to move the latter forward on the table;When the-handling device has moved a suliicient number of articles :ontoits table, all that is required of *the operator -is that he pick up therequired number of articles and deposit them, as thus positioned, in'thecart'on in which they are packaged. In this manner the articles arecontinuously fed onto a table'where they may be conveniently counted-andselected without the intermediate operation of turning them on theirsides.

Accordingly, it may be stated that the general object of the instantinvention is to provide a wrapped article handling attachment for awrappingmachine whi'ch'will increase the output :of the machinematerially, which will reduce wastage andistoppages due to the humanerror and which will further reduce the amount of .manual labor requiredto package the articles wrapped by the said wrapping machine.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds and a .more comprehensive understanding of the invention willbe afforded from the following detailed description when considered inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. .1 is a frontview of a Wrapped article handling :atachment embodying the instantinvention and showing the same attached to a wrappingmachine with whichit is used;

'2 is a cross-sectional view of the attachment taken along a line 2-2 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view of the attachment showing its turningchute, holding mechanism and reciprocating platform;

Fig. 4 isa longitudinal sectional view of the attachment taken along theline 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing'theelements'of the attachment described forFig. 3, and further illustrating the relative 'pesi tions of articleshandled thereby with the attachments holding mechanism inopen'p'osition;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to that of Fig. 4, showing the relativeposition of the attachinents elements and the articles :handledtherebywhen its holding mechanism is in closed and open position, respectively;

'Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the attachment, taken along a linel'l'! of Fig. 3 showing details of its reciprocating'platform; and

Fig. is a top view of the attachment, taken at line 88 of Fig. 3-,showing its connection with the wrappingmachine.

The wrapped article handling attachment H, which formsthe subject matterof this invention, is illustrated in Fig. .1 as being attached toa'wrappin machine !2, which may be of any suitable make. As illustrated,the machine 12 has a belt conveyor 13 which receives the articleswrapped by the machine and transfers them to a point where they arepackaged or otherwise operated upon. It is to this conveyor that theattachment i! is connected.

As "will be seen in greater detail in Figs. 3 and 3, the-conveyor thissupported on two tubular arms i l and t5 which extend outwardly from themachine flank a belt i5 thereof, the latter rbeingpassed-overa roller H.The belt H5 is paralleled by two guide flanges iii and I9 which areconnected to the arms M and id, as shown. These elements are .parts'ofthe machine 12 and for-mp0 part of the invention. However, itis to themthat the attachment H is connected as will now be described.

A housingeomprising two sides 2| and 22., and a bottom 2-3 lies above .abase plate 23 '(Fig. 2) and is attached to the arms M and I5 as shown.in-F-ig. 3. This housing encloses a reciprocating platform :24, to :bedescribed later, andzsupports a holding mechanism .25, also to bedescribed. An article turning "chute 255, having a bottom plate '21 andtwo side flanges .23 and 29, is also supported an the housing and isarranged to receive the wrapped articles delivered 'by the conveyor:belt 4'6. r-Forming a,=partof.a counting table '30 (Fig.

55 a) lis'zanrextensiont'l :oflthe base plate 23" which is carried onlegs 32 and 33. The bottom of the counting table 30, or the extension3|, is provided with two side walls, or guides, 34 and 35. With thisarrangement of the parts thus far described, the articles wrapped by themachine are fed into the chute 26 from the belt l6, onto the platform24, are dropped to the table 30 and pushed therealong also by theplatform 24.

A more detailed description of the platform 24 will be made with the aidof Figs. 3, 4 and 7. Here it is seen that a block 36 (Fig. 7) having a Tcross section, is mounted for movement on the base plate 23 between twoguides 31 and 38. To the forward end of this block there is attached theplatform 24, taking the form of an angle plate (Fig. 4), the top flange39 of which forms an article platform and the end flange 4| of whichforms an article pusher. The block 36 is reciprocated in the guides 31and 38 by means of a rod 42 connected thereto by a universal joint 43.The rod 42, in turn, is moved longitudinally by a crank 44 (Fig. 1)attached to a part of the wrapping machines central driving mechanism.As the rod is moved by the crank, the platform 24 is carired forward andbackward through an opening in the bottom 21 of the turning chute 26.

To provide for the feeding of a single article onto the platform 24 isthe function of the holding mechanism 25. This part of the attachmentcomprises a, movable yoke 45 (Figs. 2 and 3) which is connected to thehousing plates 2| and 22 by the bolts 46 and 41. The yoke pivots aboutthe latter elements and is biased inwardly by two tension springs 48 and49. The yoke 45 mounts a stop member which is moved against the articleto clamp and hold the same between it and the bottom 21 of the turningchute 26.

The yoke 45 is moved outwardly against the forces of the springs 48 and49 by a U-shaped member 52 (Fig. 7) which mounts two rollers 53 and 54.An upright bracket 55 (Fi 4) attached to the block 36 supports themember 52 and moves it with the same action as that of the reciprocatingplatform 24.

Operation The attachments operation will be described with the aid ofFigs. 3 to 6. As heretofore stated, the wrapping machine l2 delivers thewrapped articles onto the conveyor I3, each in an upright position. Asthey are moved forward by the belt l6 they are fed into the mouth of theturning chute 26, which is formed at the point 56 where the side flanges28 and 29 of the chute 26 are attached to the guides l8 and I9 of theconveyor. Partially through the driving forces of the belt I6 acting onthe articles still remaining on it, and through the articles carriedforward, and partially through gravity, the articles are moved throughthe turning chute where they are turned on their sides by movementthrough approximately 90.

Assuming the wrapping machine l2 has been delivering articles to theattachment for some time and that the latters elements occupy theirpositions as shown in Fig. 4, it will be seen that the holding mechanism25 is in open position and that the platform 24 is carried forward, thisaction being effected by the driving mechanism of the machine l2 throughthe crank 44 and rod 42. Accordingly, an article A, which has beenturned on its side in the turning chute 26, has fallen by gravity ontothe surface 39 of the platform 24. A second article B, likewise turnedon its side, has fallen in the chute and is supported by the precedingarticle A.

As the block 36 is moved rearwardly by the crank 44 and rod 42, theplatform 24 is withdrawn, the member 52 is moved rearwardly and the yoke45 is carried downwardly by the springs 48 and 49 to move the stopmember 5| against the article B, all as is shown in Fig. 5. Thus, thearticle B is stopped in the chute 26 at the point illustrated, themovement of a third article C has been arrested at the point indicated,and the article A has dropped onto the top 3| of the table 30.

As the reciprocating platform 24 is again moved forward and the elementsof the attachment occupy their positions as shown in Fig. 6, then thearticle B is released to drop onto the surface 39 of the platform 24,the end flange 4| of the latter has moved against the article A to moveit forward on the table 30, and the article C has been stopped in itsdownward course at a point where it will be held by the holdingmechanism 25 upon the return stroke of the reciprocating platform 24.

Through such operation wrapped articles are continuously received fromthe machine l2, are turned on their sides in the turning chute 26, andare moved onto the table 39 where they may be counted, lifted from thetable in selected numbers and placed directly into packages.

That the invention thus accomplishes its stated objects will be seen bycomparing the action of the attachment in which it is embodied withthose required by operators in prior art uses of the machine |2. Here itwas required that the operator handle each and every article separatelyby first taking it from the conveyor |3, then turning it on its side andplacing it on a table, repeating the operation until a given number ofarticles were thus arranged and then placing them in a package. With thepresent attachment, all that is required of the operator is that he pickup a selected number of articles from the table 3|! and place them intheir package.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction, within thescope of the appended claim, without departin from the spirit of thisinvention. Parts of the invention may be used without the whole andimprovements may be added while retaining some or all of the advantagesof the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a wrapped article handling attachment for a wrapping machine having aconveyor for delivering a, wrapped article in an upright position, ahousing depending from a support for said conveyor, an article turningdevice carried on said housing comprising a curved bottom plate havingone of its ends abutting said conveyor and its other end disposed atapproximately degrees thereto and a, flanged side attached to each sideof said plate, an article holding mechanism associated with said chutecomprising a spring biased yoke pivotally connected to said housing, anda stop member mounted on said yoke, a movable platform having articlesupporting and article pushing surfaces movable through an opening insaid bottom plate at the discharge end of said chute, a block attachedto said platform movable in guideways supported within said housing, anupright bracket supported on said block having two arms movable againstsaid yoke, a drive mechanism for moving said block in said guidewayswith reciprocating movement, and a table extending outwardly from saidhousing 5 6 adapted to support articles pushed thereon by UNITED STATESPATENTS said Platform Number Name Date FRANCIS MURPHY- 972,649 Rose Oct.11, 1910 1,398,345 Simmons Nov. '29, 1921 REFERENCES CITED 5 1,992,761Neumair Feb. 26, 1935 The following references are of record in the2,159,132 Chalmers May 23, 1939 file of this patent: 2,345,012 SillarsMar. 28, 1944 2,358,413 Monaco Sept. 19, 1944

